Social media is a crucial part of your digital marketing strategy. This is because it has such a global reach and can help you spread the message about your brand worldwide. However, running social media successfully is far from easy. This is especially the case if you want to juggle between different markets and run more than one social media channel.

Social media localization is inevitable if you want to reach people across the globe. If you’re not sure what it is, why it’s important, or how to master it- we’ve got your back. Below, you’ll find everything you need to know about building a localization strategy for social media.

What is Social Media Localization?

When a brand is working on its brand image and social media presence for more than one market, it simply needs to adapt how they do it based on the market target audience.

Social media localization thus refers to the process of adapting or completely changing the strategies and types of social media content you use to make it more suitable for specific groups of people. These changes and adaptations are typically in reference to:

• cultural norms
• language
• social circumstances
• habits and customs
• beliefs
• behaviors
• preferences

This means that brands have to understand their target audience for each specific market and create social media content specifically for them.

Why is Social Media Localization Important?

Social media localization is extremely important when you’re running social media for different regions and markets. Without it and by sharing the same content across all those profiles, it would be impossible to achieve admirable results on all those platforms.

So, the benefits that come from utilizing social media localization are:

• staying culturally relevant
• speaking your audience’s language (literally and metaphorically)
• evoking emotions in customers
• building strong and loyal relationships
• increasing engagement and reach

People will be more entertained, interested in, and affected by social media content in their native language, designed for their mindset. This is why social media localization is so powerful.

How to Build a Localization Strategy for Social Media

Creating an effective and powerful social media localization strategy is demanding. But, without a strategy, you’d be lost before you’ve even started doing it. Plus, a well-defined strategy will make the whole process faster and way less stressful.

To help you build one yourself, we’ve put together a list of the essential steps in the process of creating a localization strategy for social media. Let’s break it down.

Translation

Marketers and social media specialists often get confused and think that localization and translation are synonymous. The translation is an elemental part of localization, but it’s not the only thing you’ll be doing.

In the process of localization, you’ll first need to translate:

• social media posts
• captions
• on-image text
• comments

You’ll be translating into the local language of the target region, making sure you’re nurturing the same brand image through the proper use of tone, style, and voice. You can outsource a translator from a website that offers academic, business, or legal translation services. You could also hire a translator internally if you think you’ll need them full-time.

Choosing Social Media Platforms

Not all social media platforms are equally popular in all regions. For instance, Facebook is the most popular social media platform in the USA, with 79% of adults using it actively. However, in China, it’s WeChat, in Brazil, it’s Instagram, and in Spain, it’s WhatsApp.

This means that proper localization includes deciding which platforms to use in the first place to target your country-specific demographics.

Images & Visuals

When you’re localizing your content, you want to make sure that you’re presenting your target group through your visuals. Your images and videos on social media posts have to reflect the people you’re selling to.

Also, color psychology can differ from country to country. This means that red can symbolize love in one country and be associated with death in another.

Naturally, changing and adapting your visuals is a must.

Local Dialect

It’s one thing to learn a language from books and another thing to speak it naturally. Respecting the local dialect in your social media posts is the last but not the least important piece of our puzzle.

You should hire a local, native writer, like those working at Topessaywriting, to proofread and edit your posts before publishing. They’ll know what parts need refurbishing and which are good to go.

Cultural References

You need to be very careful not to offend anyone with your content or make people feel uncomfortable in any way. That means you must understand the cultural norms, beliefs, and customs and respect them in your content.

A simple example would be how in India, a cow is considered a holy animal. Imagine having a cow portrayed inappropriately in one of your posts for the Indian market. You’d lose your credibility and likability rather quickly.

Holidays & Important Dates

Staying relevant is also crucial when you’re thinking about localization, and holidays and important dates are a great way to get people’s attention. Still, not all countries have the same holidays or celebrate the same holidays in the same way.

Valentine’s Day is a huge deal in the USA, while the countries in the Balkans don’t care for it that much. Another good example is how some countries celebrate Christmas following the Julian calendar and mark it on January 7^th. Imagine creating Christmas posts for these countries on December 25^th. Most people would be offended, while others would see you as sloppy and unprofessional.

Final Thoughts

Building your localization strategy for social media means learning about all the aspects that you have to consider and take into account. From using the local language to adapting the visuals- it all has to be compliant with the region you’re targeting.

Our guide will help you build a strong and effective social media localization strategy without any stress or fuss.

Author’s Bio

Olivia Evans is a social media marketer and a blogger. She specializes in social analysis and loves sharing the tricks to boosting your social media stress-free, using simple but effective tricks.